Going National
by Sailor Rayquaza
Summary: When she jumped into the Galaxy Cauldron, she expected to see all her friends again; not wake up in a hospital bed. Or realizing that her name isn't Tsukino Usagi.
1. Only to Find That I've Come Alive

**Going National**

 _Virtual_ _Reality/Actor AU \- When she jumped into the Galaxy Cauldron, she expected to see all her friends again; not wake up in a hospital bed. Or realizing that her name isn't Tsukino Usagi_.

So this isn't your traditional Sailor Moon fic. In fact, it doesn't really feature the characters at all- but don't let that throw you off! They're not total OCs, (I think...). Inspired by the ending of New Danganronpa V3 (so spoilers for that, beware, but you don't have to be in the DR series to tell where this is heading.) and being a long time Sailor Moon fan- it made me wonder how these characters would dwell with that situation, realizing everything around you is fake and your just playing another person.

All the usual Disclaimers apply.

* * *

...

 _When she jumps into the Galaxy Caudron, the only thought in her mind is all her friends and the love of her life waiting for her. She'd run into their arms and feel so happy that this nightmare is over. She wouldn't have to fight them anymore, or Galaxia or Chaos-_

 _But for now she's falling._

 _She's falling into the place where all stars are born and she feels…_

 _Beautiful…_

 _She feels ethereal…_

 _She feels anticipation…_

 _Her feelings of loneliness fade away and reveal itself to make her feel…_

 _To make her feel…?_

 _She feels…?_

 _She feels dea-_

 _D-?_

.

.

.

* * *

She feels alive.

Horrifyingly alive.

Hospital lights stare back at her and there's a moment of confusion before it all comes soaring back to her mentally and physically. Her body is roaring in agony and her mind is so jumbled with memories real and fake-she runs to school in a blue and white sailor uniform late and the next memory flashes with her in a dark blue and black uniform auditioning in front of a camera.

Who is she? She was Tsukino Usagi, wasn't she? The beautiful solider of love and justice and fought in the name of the moon-

No.

She feels her mouth sour with the thoughts of a dying girl that only wished to save her friends and her world.

This isn't the type of 'alive' she wants to feel. Not confined to a hospital bed all weak and useless because there's some instinct telling her that there's a world to be saved outside, a world that _needs_ Sailor Moon.

Where's the magic? Why doesn't she feel it course through her body?

She notices her overly long and oily, thin hair has gone back to its natural dark brown from its dyed blonde and the real memories are able to sort itself out from the fake when the realization hits.

She rips the needle out her arm and for a split second feels the magic that encompassed her for the past two years, before her scream of pain alerts the nurses to the room.

* * *

 _One of the nurses walks up to her cautiously and she can only respond with a close-lipped mouth and sharpened eyes._

" _Do you know what your name is, sweetie?"_

 _The short-haired redheaded nurse asks her a bit too fearful for her liking because her appearance is only a callback to another short-haired redheaded girl that she only pushed to the side before for being too concerned._

 _She opens her mouth and the words are scrunched up in her throat. She wants to say two things at once, but only one of them is real._

" _Tsukino Usagi,"_

 _The nurse smiles sadly and shakes her head._

 _She chose fake._

* * *

It's been two weeks and she's still trapped in the hospital.

The good news is that she's finally able to walk around now and visit the others.

The bad news is that she's not going to be one of the first to leave. Apparently, the hospital wants to do more testing on her seeing as how she was the only one to answer with 'that' name.

She finds herself in the room of the man she was in love with for the past 2 years, and to say he looks the same is an understatement. His hair was a little longer than it was in the virtual reality, but he looks all the same regardless.

Unlike her, he didn't need to change his appearance for the role.

When she walked in with a ginormous stuffed rabbit in her arms, he looked at her momentarily confused- _as if who she was_ \- but it quickly clicked in his mind when she saw his expression soften at the rabbit.

Also unlike her, he hadn't regained his ability to walk and was confined to the bed still. Despite being the first to wake up, he was the only one who hadn't regained the ability to walk. That's what she heard from the nurses anyways.

"Ah, I just finished re-watching the series finale. I must say, congratulations!" His voice is sincere but she doesn't think she can think of it as a compliment.

She nods and quickly pulls up a chair to sit next to his bedside. "It's certainly an honor to hear that from the famous, Yamato-san." She speaks quietly and he looks at her with a tilted head.

"They were right, you really aren't like her at all,"

"Who was right?" She finds herself asking even though she already knows the answer very well.

"The other girls, of course. What? You don't think you're the first person to visit me, do you?" He asks accusingly but in a joking way.

She stays quiet as he continues, "Usagi would have never called someone by their last name. Everyone was a friend to her and therefore, they never needed formalities."

She keeps her head down and squeezes the stuffed rabbits arm hard.

"Satomi,"

Her head snaps up to look at him and for a split second she sees the image of Chiba Mamoru before it fades out to the famed actor, Yamato Yuuta and she looks back to the floor. She remembered that 2 years ago, the brief meeting between the two before they got in the virtual reality made her squeal in delight-it was a dream to meet your famous crush.

Now, she didn't think she could look him in the eyes without feeling sorry.

"I see you like my present," he gestured towards the stuffed rabbit. "I was waiting for you to wake up to see your reaction to it. I had it ordered the day I woke up and it arrived within the same day, isn't that crazy?"

"I suppose that's the perks of being a famous actor," Satomi pointed out.

"I suppose," he agrees smoothly.

She flinches when Yuuta grabs her free hand and intertwines them. She never expected him to be so…direct.

"Hey," he says softly but she still does not raise her head to meet his inching closer.

"Why aren't you looking at me?" he asks. "Are you afraid of me? Is that it? Satomi, listen, if it's about what happened in the virtual simulation then I completely understand-"

She mumbles something out that he can't understand.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"I still see Mamoru when I look at you…"

For once, he remains quiet and stares at her hard.

"I-I just can't un-see everyone from who they were in the simulation, I want to see them normally and hell, I can't even see myself different from Tsukino Usagi and-"

"That's to be expected after all," He cuts her off abruptly and pulls her a little closer so that she's pressed against the side of the bed.

"Huh?"

Yuuta shakes his head. "It's to be expected of a new actor, this is your first role, correct? Especially since you were put into a virtual reality program, hell, you were given fake memories of a life that wasn't yours. You _were_ Tsukino Usagi for two years uninterrupted. You lived her life, with her memories, her friends, her powers and _her story_."

Satomi listens to him clearly, but in the end the words weren't going through. What he was saying was true, but she didn't want to be herself anymore. He didn't understand the want, the feel, the need to be Usagi Tsukino and how badly she wanted to throw her old life away to do so.

She nods her head weakly and thinks maybe one day, if she can truly love him as Yamato Yuuta and not as Chiba Mamoru, then she'll tell him. It could be soon, or years from now but she'll open up to him as he's opening up to her right now.

"And," the confidence from his voice drops suddenly to shaky and low. "I still I want to continue being with you," he says it softly as if he knows it's going to break her.

And Satomi freezes.

"…continue?" She whispers it, uncertain if she heard it correctly.

"I want to be with you, just like how we were in the virtual world. I know we were technically living as characters with fake memories, and things were scripted but…I know what I feel. I know what I felt for you was real and if it wasn't, I wouldn't be feeling it the minute I woke up." Yuuta adjusts himself so that's he sitting up straight from bed and grips her hand tighter.

Satomi could only wonder if this guy knew what he was talking about. _He still liked her_? Even though she was nothing like Usagi? Even though he just met the real her a few moments ago?

But then again, Yuuta was an actor. He's acted in virtual realities multiple times, though for lengths far shorter than for what the Sailor Moon series ran for. If he's able to still hold feelings for her even after leaving the fake world, then they must hold some truth, right? At least that's what she's telling herself.

"How can you still like me? Even though I'm nothing like Usagi?" Satomi questions, unable to face him and her free hand gripping the stuffed rabbit around its neck harshly.

Yuuta merely shakes his head. "It's not that. It has nothing to do with being Tsukino Usagi, just like how it should have nothing to do with being Chiba Mamoru. It's the chemistry, it's the vibe, the mood, the relief…" He says it as if it's obvious and she can only lift her head to stare at him blankly.

"Listen, I've been in a lot of virtual realities in my time," He speaks as if he's old and in a way he is, he's lived so many different lives and experiences, he might have been considered an old man mentally despite being only 22. "I know what feelings are real and fake. I've been in virtual realities that ended up terribly because no matter how much fake memories they installed in us, and no matter how much the world was scripted so that we would like each other-the chemistry between us naturally was just so bad." Yuuta brings Satomi's hand up to his face and smiles softly and warmly- _so unlike Mamo-chan_ -

"You can never truly change a person's original personality. We have a natural chemistry and no matter how unlike Tsukino Usagi you are, I still like you. That's why I want to be with you and learn more about you, okay?" Yuuta kisses the back of her hand and Satomi becomes a blushing mess.

"But only if you allow it, okay?"

Satomi nods. "I'll allow it," She presses forehead against Yuuta's and thinks, maybe, _just maybe_ , she can get used to him. Him being so forward and direct, helped a lot too.

"Yuuta," She breathes his name huskily and she can see his face light up into a bright smile as he lets her hand go and cups her face. "Satomi…!" He pulls her closer and she moves to grip his shirt when-

"Ms. Sawai?"

They both break apart instantly and turn towards the doorway to see the redhead nurse standing awkwardly outside the room.

"Um…visiting hours are over…" She mumbles and rushes down the hallway out of view quickly, covering her blushing face.

Satomi and Yuuta look at each other briefly before breaking into laughter.

"Oh man, did you see her face?"

"I know, I know, what was that? It wasn't _that_ intense for her, was it?"

After a few moments to calm down and recollect themselves, Satomi gets up with stuffed rabbit in hand and says her goodbyes. She begins to walk toward the door when she suddenly stops.

"Oh Yuuta,"

"Hmm?"

She turns back to look at him, and looks him directly in his dark blue eyes.

"I think you're more like Usagi than me,"

He laughs. "You think so?"

Satomi nods, "You're so open and free with your words and-"

He stops her with his hand.

"Stop, you're overthinking it. I'm just saying what needed to be said. I've had to weeks to think about it, since I woke up."

"I suppose," She says quietly.

"And besides, if they made me Usagi, it definitely wouldn't be faithful to the manga."

She can't hold back her laughter as she continued making her way to leave the room.

"You're definitely right,"

* * *

...

 _Authors Notes:_

This is a risky fic. I don't even know if this qualifies as a crossover, but I think it avoids that narrowly by being solely focused on the SM universe as a whole.

But how do like Satomi and Yuuta? Different? Similar? Just broken from the experience?

Also, I'm really excited to start writing about the other characters, but choosing names if gonna be a little hard. Satomi and Yuuta's names are inspired from the PGSM and Sera Myu's actors and I want the same theme for the other characters also.

But anyways, thanks for reading!

-Sailor Rayquaza


	2. A Girl's Hair is Her Life

**Hello Everyone! I would firstly like to thank all of you that have Favorited and reviewed this story! It makes me so happy that people are interested in this type of fic!**

 **Next, the title of this chapter is inspired by the title of Ranma 1/2's episode 9 title. The title from the last chapter is a lyric from Marina and the Diamond's song, Teen Idle. I kind of want to keep this type of pattern, as a way of making references since this is a media-based fic.**

 **This is probably going to be the most controversial chapter out of them all, for a few reasons but I've tried to not make that issue center-stage.**

* * *

...

Satomi watches herself on the laptop screen in disgust. At 18 years old, she already begins to hate herself from two years ago staring back at her on the screen with a big smile on her face.

In a dark blue school uniform, accented with yellow, she remembers how she snuck out of school early for the auditions only a few blocks away. She can only shake her head at the utter stupidity of her younger self's actions. But then again, it's not she could have predicted something like this would happen.

With the thoughts of not trying to put her past self at fault for her current predicament, Satomi shakily presses the play button, ready to see a train wreck unfold.

* * *

" _Yes, and you are Sawai Satomi correct?" A rugged male voice asks off-screen._

 _The 16-year old beams and flashes a big smile for the camera and the person behind it._

" _That's right, I'm Sawai Satomi and I'm here to audition for the part of Tsukino Usagi!" Satomi says enthusiastically and twirls a strand of her long dyed blonde hair. While the bangs weren't a perfect replica, her buns and twin tails were done exactly as the soldier of love and justice had them. And though you couldn't see from the camera angle, the tails went down to her thighs._

 _A gruff noise came from off-screen, acting as some sort of affirmation of her words. After some coughing and the sound of crinkled paper, the man speaks again._

" _So what has brought you here to audition to be a part of Sailor Moon? Are you a fan of the manga?" He inquired._

 _Immediately, the young girl's mouth curls up into a smile far different from the one she flashed at the camera moments ago._

" _The Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon manga has been a part of me since I was child. The minute I read the first chapter, I instantly fell in love with the art, the characters and the story." She said in a professional manner, but it gave away that this was something she rehearsed to say, as if she was expecting this question. It didn't change her facial expression however, of which looked like a giddy school girl fangirling over the latest shirtless picture of her superstar crush._

" _Oh, I see. So what has made you want to audition as Usagi specifically?"_

 _Satomi tilts her head with giddy smile still frozen on her face. When she opens her mouth to speak, it looks almost eerie and robotic._

" _Usagi was the light of everyone's life. She has made her way into being the light of my life," She says calmly at first, but as the answer continues it becomes more apparent she's no longer able to keep up her act._

" _Everyone loves Usagi and it's completely understandable, she's so pure-hearted and beautiful. Everything about her is so stunning and light!"_

 _The man coughs again, a bit more nervously this time. "…I see, so you look up to Usagi as a role model-"_

" _No! That's not it!" She exclaims and immediately the camera adjusts to focus on her suddenly getting up._

" _It's not just about looking up to Usagi as a role model, it's about actually understanding her actions and realizing what type of person she is! No one can compare to Tsukino Usagi, who made her way into being the light of everyone's lives! She's so open-hearted and warm and it's all about comprehending that no one will ever be able to match an eternal light such as hers! Mamoru even says it at the end of the manga! That she's the brightest star and no one will ever be able to outshine her!"_

 _Satomi's outburst was clearly a shock to the interviewer and cameraman, because there's stammering and stuttering and the fumbling of papers and the shakiness of the camera-_

* * *

She can literally feel herself about to physically gag.

What was that?

No, seriously, _**what was that**_ , was the only thing running through Satomi's mind as she hit the pause button on the video. She didn't even think she could bring herself to watch the rest of it. She ran her hands through her hair and couldn't help but tug at it harshly.

How the hell did they cast her as Sailor Moon with that audition tape?

She covers her mouth, unsure if she's about to throw up and stretches upper body off the bed carefully to not drop the laptop off her lap, and hovers over the trash can.

"So I see you watched your audition tape? Shiori had a similar reaction when she saw hers." An accented voice says and Satomi weakly lifts her head to spot the blonde figure in the doorway.

The tall woman struts into the room, her black heels clacking on the hospital tiles and her black tight-fitted turtle-necked top showed off a great deal of stomach, especially with her low cut jeans. Satomi's eyes lingered on this long blonde haired and blue eyed model who one would have thought to have been casted to play the goddess of love and beauty herself, Sailor Venus and that one notion would be horribly _incorrect_.

Satomi could only watch as she pulled over a stool and sat by her bedside, glancing at the laptop screen. She doesn't make an effort to hide the laptop from the foreign beauty but the blonde only gives it a quick glance before turning her attention back to her.

"That bad, huh? Looks like you got pretty riled up in your audition, but it's not like I didn't know that already," She comments off-handedly.

"You watched my tape?" Satomi questions nervously. After all, this vixen was the one that was passing around the tapes…

"Nah, going through everyone's tapes would have been too much of a hassle. Not mention it's not fair, since I don't have an official audition tape." She states simply and Satomi could only stare at her wide-eyed and think to herself how perfect of an advantage that would give her, seeing the blonde's ruined reputation.

Dina Lancaster, the American model-better known now as the actress who played Rei Hino aka Sailor Mars was now in a deep load of controversy. From the first being that she actually wasn't casted as Sailor Mars to still being allowed to play her despite the obvious race problems that came up from it, she was currently headlining every news outlet around the world.

From what Satomi understood, by the time production was supposed to start for the virtual reality adaptation of Sailor Moon, they hadn't casted a Sailor Mars yet. Apparently, there were many disagreements of who should the fiery senshi be and in the end, by the time everything was supposed to start, they were left with no actress. The crew's plan was to start the virtual reality program and they would continue finding an actress for Mars up until her debut episode.

Dina Lancaster was one of those auditioned, albeit unprofessionally. Because she was foreign, they turned her down for a formal audition, but despite all this, she managed to track the casting director to his favorite bar for a 'talk'. Everything about her was perfect for Rei, her extroverted attitude, elegant movements and the occasional short-temper; the casting director even praised her for growing up with Sailor Moon and looking up to Rei as model and went as far to call up some of his staff to talk to her and get opinions on her 'feel' as Rei. They all agreed she would be a perfect fit for her and yet, Dina was turned down on the basis she wasn't Japanese.

None of that stopped her though.

"How did you know how I acted in my audition tape?" Satomi questioned suspiciously. If Dina didn't watch it, then how did she know…?

"During my interview, the guy mentioned how the others went. He said the girl they picked out as Sailor Moon got _totally_ crazed about it," Dina mentions it like it was nothing but smirk on her face didn't make Satomi feel any less assured.

"And yet they picked me as Sailor Moon anyways…" she mumbles off to the side.

"Hmph, be grateful at least you got picked. _I_ had to sneak my way in through,"

"Oh yeah, I did _hear_ about that," Satomi lies through her teeth, _everyone's_ heard about it. But sometimes you have to play a little dumb to get a difference perspective. "Whose fake name did you steal anyways? There's no way they would have let you get in the pod room so easily."

Dina scoffs and leans her arm on the bed lazily. "Nanaki Keiko. She was one of the pod testers a few hours before the program was officially supposed to start. I had my people keep her back before testing was supposed to start and snuck in the room when no one was there or looking. I signed in under her name and plugged myself in the pod ahead of time, you remember that right?"

Satomi pondered for a bit, trying to recall what happened on that hectic day. Before going the pods, she did recall a person already being plugged in, in the far back corner of the room. All the actors were supposed to be plugged in at the same time, but someone was already in the simulation…

Gasping, Satomi looked at her shock. "You were there! You were in the back pod! How did no one else notice?" Dina only flashed her a cocky grin. "That's right, air-head. I'm guessing the crew was too focused on the rest of youse to focus on lil' old me in the lone pod in the back of the scary mechanical room." She says in a multitude of different American accents before settling on her normal voice.

"By the time they probably noticed me, it was already too late to take me out," Dina explained.

Satomi could stare at her with her mouth open in shock. This girl was crazy! Yeah, she snuck out of school during lunch for her audition but to actually sneak into a high security area and deal with hooking up all that technology to yourself…wait a minute-

"How'd you hook up all the wires and plug into yourself? They would have to sedate you like they did with me…" Satomi trails on, unsure where to go with saying the rest of it.

"Yeah, obviously I didn't sedate myself, but figuring out all the plugs weren't hard. Some were already plugged in, those were probably from the previous test runs and I'm not scared of needles so sticking everything in me was no issue either." Dina started to laugh awkwardly explaining the next part. "Though I'll admit, hooking up the IV, food and waste bags were kinda nerve-wracking…at that point I wanted to back out but when I realized how far I've come, I thought it'd be totally stupid to back out now."

"You're a total daredevil. Truly the best fit for Sailor Mars…" Satomi murmurs.

"Hmph, say what you want but at least _I_ didn't go as far as trying to make myself look like who I was playing," Dina scoffed and ran her through her long blonde locks, of which Satomi watched in envy.

Satomi recoiled at her in shock and bewilderment and twirled her hair nervously. "How do you know about that? You didn't even see me before-"

"I heard about it from the casting director during my interview, remember?" Dina replied nonchalantly.

'Okay, that explains one thing,' Satomi thought to herself. But there was something else that was bothering her…

"What're you talking about? Weren't you supposed to look like who you got casted?" She questioned.

Now it was Dina's turn to look at her in shock, well more like bafflement. The former model folded her legs and leaned back against the small nightstand, a sign she was prepared to stay for a while.

"Listen Satomi, I'm no Momoyo when it comes to figuring out all this technological crap," she started, referencing the actress who played Sailor Mercury. "But, even I know that virtual realities have the technology advanced enough to change your appearance completely. It doesn't matter what you look like, they'll change you enough to make you look like who're you're _supposed_ to look like."

Dina reached over and clutch Satomi's now shoulder length natural brown hair and rubbed the sharp ends, a sign it was recently cut and sighed to herself. Satomi instinctively pried her hand off her hair and began to smooth it out. Her hair was all thin thanks to the staying in the virtual reality pod and had to be cut as an attempt for it to grow back thicker.

Satomi longed for it to grow back, she's had it long since she was a child and having it at this length felt _so weird_ and _so unlike her_.

"Hmph, if you think I haven't noticed you're seriously joking." Dina scowled. "You've now made your point apparent, it seems." Her voice deepened in seriousness and her eyes were in silts staring down at Satomi.

"Huh?"

"You haven't been looking _at me_ this entire time, have you?"

Satomi was taken back by the other woman's remark and immediately tensed up. "I'm not quite sure what you're taking about…" she responded quiet and unsurely.

Dina reached forward again and tugged on the thin, flattened hair once more.

"Satomi, there was no need to dye your hair," Dina gently spoke, almost a complete turnaround from her tone before.

"W-what?"

"There was no need." Dina said once more and rose from her seat. "There was no need to dye it and therefore, there would have been no need to cut it. I'm surprised you didn't know that before, but that's to be expected from a newbie anyways,"

Satomi stared at her, eyes wide and blank as Dina made her exit from the room.

"And Satomi, one last thing." Dina called from the exit, but Satomi wasn't even looking at her anymore. Her mind was too far gone from that revelation to even pay attention to the other woman anymore.

The reason her hair was so unhealthy was because of her own stupidity? Because of her own obsession?

She brought this on herself.

The one thing she had always been proud about and what made her, _her_ was the ability to keep long luscious hair. It had taken her years to grow it to the length it was once at and how long would it take her to gain it back?

"There is no need to change yourself for anyone, including someone who isn't real."

Dina's words were left hanging in the air as she strolled out leaving Satomi in her thoughts.

All she could do was stare at the wall and have the wall stare back at her. She didn't even have the motivation to move at this point. On top of everything she'd lost to Tsukino Usagi, she had to lose her hair too?!

Her memories were a mess because of Usagi, it was as if she remembered three lives now: Princess Serenity, Tsukino Usagi and Sawai Satomi. Her heart felt so heavy ever since she'd awoken, something in her longing to go back to being Usagi. Most days, she didn't even feel to get up or walk around, it was as if she had no motivation anymore. She didn't even _want_ to see anyone, but made an effort because that's what Usagi would do-

Usagi.

 _Usagi._

 _ **Usagi.**_

Everything was about her, wasn't it? Everything on her mind was about Usagi.

And now Tsukino Usagi has effectively ruined her life.

She slumped over on the bed and screamed.

* * *

The minute Dina stepped into the lounge, she already felt like she made a mistake.

"Ah! Perfect timing Dina! Now we can discuss ways to help Momoyo-" A bubbly dark-haired girl with glasses jumped over to her, her smile beaming under the hospital lights.

Dina pushed her aside and took a seat on one of the couches, across from two other women. "Shut up Shiori, no one wants to talk about that right now."

The only standing member of the room pouted and her double braids swished as she stomped over to Dina with her hands on her hips and glasses gleaming. "That's not true! Right Melodie? Mirai?" She looked over to the other two women.

The composed lady sitting up straight, simply stared back at them with her hands writing on their own in her notebook. Labelled "Fujioka Melodie's Neptune Book", the young woman continued to write in it and did not respond to Shiori.

The other of the two, Sanpei Mirai simply gave a guilty smile.

"Gah! You guys are so boring and useless!" Shiori screeched and slammed her hand on the coffee table.

Dina groaned and threw her head back on the couch. "No wonder they picked you to be Venus, you're annoying and arrogant just like her…"

"Hey man! Minako was great-" Just as Shiori was about to defend herself, or rather Aino Minako, the hallway just outside the room stared the blare with sirens.

All the occupants of the room could only watch as a bunch of nurses rushed down the hall past them and then a blur of green entering the room, all out of breath.

With messy brown hair in a ponytail and in a green sweater dress, the tall woman was leaning up against the doorframe trying to catch her breath. Immediately, Mirai stood up and wobbled over to the refreshment counter to get a drink for her, fixing up a glass of apple juice as quickly as she could and hobbled over to the tired woman. Mirai watched as she quickly downed the drink and slammed the glass down on the mini bookshelf by the door.

"Ah, that hit the spot…" she said refreshingly and smiled a bit awkwardly at the smaller girl before her. "Ah…thanks Mirai, though there was really no need to do that…seeing all your…um…" she stammered as she gazed down Mirai's body, where her legs, arms and one of her eyes were all bandaged up. But the shorter girl merely smiled back, "It was nothing, don't worry about it," she responded sweetly.

"Aha…" the other woman could only laugh sheepishly before Shiori cut her off.

"Hey now, Chisa! What's going on?"

Azama Chisa van der Pol quickly straightened her posture.

"Ah, it's Satomi! Something's happened to her, but I don't know what…" she trailed off.

"Well that explains why all the nurses were running to the East Wing," Mirai commented to herself as she fixed her long raven hair. "I should have figured…that's where all of us are kept,"

Melodie slowly turned her head to face Chisa, but her face didn't show any reaction. Chisa awkwardly made eye-contact with the dull, hardened eyes of the former actress of Kaioh Michiru before turning away. Meanwhile, Shiori made direct contact with Dina, who was still lounging back on the couch.

"What?" Dina snarled.

"Didn't you just come from Satomi's room?" Shiori questioned, eyes narrowed down at the blonde.

From that point, all the other eyes in the room turned towards the former senshi of Mars. Dina stared at them all back plainly and stayed quiet for a moment as the others were expecting an answer.

"Yeah, so? I just told her some things she needed to hear," She responded flatly, as if expecting this conversation to go nowhere.

"Some things she needed to hear?" Shiori repeated slowly. "Like what for example?" She questioned.

Chisa leaned back against the bookshelf and rubbed her temple. "Good lord Dina, what did you _do_?" she drawled out in a disappointed manner. Dina quickly got up, "Hey, you can't just go around blaming me for anything! All I told her was that she needed to _not_ change herself-"

"Oh, that's _real_ funny coming from you, seeing as how _you_ dyed your hair and wore contacts for your interview," Shiori shot back.

Dina backed up to the couch in shock. "H-how did you know about that?" her voice cracked for that question, but she quickly jumped back to defend herself. "It's not like that matters! How could telling her something like that cause anything?"

Chisa stepped up to side with Shiori. "You are _so_ brainless, you can't just go around telling people like that what they should have and shouldn't have done! Satomi is in a really fragile mental state, Dina!"

"Oh yeah, but I still don't see-"

"Are you not paying attention? Or do you just not care about the people around you?" Shiori inquired, fired up.

"You guys are just avoiding the question-"

"No we're not! You're just not listening!"

"You didn't even let me finish what I was going to say! I didn't even tell you the full story!"

"We gave you time to explain but _you_ just decided to stay silent!"

"I was thinking about what I going to say-"

"Like hell you were-"

While the three of them went back and forth, Melodie continued to monitor the situation and write in her notebook. Curious, Mirai glanced over to see just what the older woman was writing but just as she could get into the view, Melodie moved her black curls to her side as a way to block her.

"Meanie," Mirai pouted innocently.

Melodie continued to write for a few more moments as the other girls continued to bicker about whether what Dina did was right or wrong before she abruptly shut her book. Mirai looked at her in alarm, just in time to see her shove her pen into her cardigan pocket.

She sat still for a couple of moments, almost as if thinking, but this started to make Mirai worry.

"Ah, Mama I'm sorry, I shouldn't have tried to look-" But before the former actress of Sailor Saturn could finish, Melodie abruptly stood up. The loud clicks of her heels as she made her exit alerted the arguing trio to stop and look at her.

"Ah-! Wait! Melodie!" Shiori called, but the other woman did not heed her and continued on, disregarding the former actress of Venus.

Chisa placed a hand on Shiori's shoulder to stop her from going after the elegant woman. "There's no point in trying with her, the only person she's gonna answer is Syu and you know that,"

"Yeah, yeah," Shiori waved off her explanation and folded her arms, irritated and agitated. "But what I don't understand is _what the hell_ did Michiru go through that was _so traumatic_ to make Melodie mute? Like what was so different from the rest of us?" Shiori asked no one in particular.

Dina snickered. "Hypocrite," she commented.

"What was that?" Shiori hissed at the chuckling female across from her.

"Oh you know, 'She's in a really fragile mental state' or something like that," She mocked back at the still fired up girl before her.

"I didn't even say that! Chisa did!"

"Oh no," The former actress of Jupiter groaned. "I don't want to get dragged back into this again…"

While the three of them carried on amongst themselves, Mirai had slumped back down in the couch.

This is was going to be the longest and worst hospital stay she's ever had.

* * *

All right! So far we've brought out Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Venus and Neptune. Only 3 more to go!

Of course, there a few questions to read from this, such as what's up Melodie's and Chisa's names (why are they foreign?) and what is Melodie writing in her notebook?

And the Japanese names for the characters are inspired by Sera Myu/PGSM actresses for the girls, even down to Dina's alias. The western names are stuff I made up.

Thanks for reading!

-Sailor Rayquaza


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